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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/ourchanceinphillOOsibl 


S.Fernandol 


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Tabt’a^ 


MASBATE' 


ISLANDS 


CUY06  IS. 


Balabac  I, 


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Bay  1 
Cotabaj 


ZamboangoW'a 


Baailan  I. 


ISandakan 


!*_ L - -5  I 6 


Luagituda  East  from  Gr««nwicL  124 


THE  ASIERICAN  BOARD  ,a 


Babuyanes  ^ 
Islands  g 


MIS>SIO>  TO  THE 
,C  Engano  PHILIPPINES 


Station  : • Davao 
Out~stations:%  Surigao 

Railroads: 

Cable  Lines: 

Steamship  Lines: 


LDcb^b  Statute  Jluea 


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QtoAJ^'A  Poll 

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Aff.  'Marjnduque 


MINDORO  t 


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NORTH  BOUNKO 


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r.  1 7 ~r  ~~5 


CONGREGATIONALISTS  and  the  PHILIPPINES 


IN  spite  of  differences  of  opinion  at 
home  as  to  the  Philippines  and 
their  relations  to  us,  it  is  beyond 
doubt  true  that  the  men  who  know  the 
situation  best  would  agree  that  the 
floating  of  our  flag  there  was  ordered 
of  God,  was  one  of  his  acts  in  the  prog- 
ress of  his  plan. 

The  presence  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
there  sounded  the  death  knell  to  igno- 
rance and  superstition,  and  ushered 
in  the  dawn  of  education  and  liberty. 
It  did  not  mean  the  holding  in  slavery 
a weak  and  subject  people.  The  inhab- 
itants of  the  Philippines  under  the 
American  flag  have  had  greater  possi- 
bilities for  advancement  along  every 
line  than  any  subject  people  under  any 
great  nation  in  thehistory  of  the  world. 
The  flag  has  meant  peace,  prosperity, 
protection,  and  liberty.  It  will  float 
there  till  its  mission  is  fully  accom- 
plished and  His  plan  carried  out. 

The  Protestant  Church  of  America 
early  saw  its  opportunities,  privileges, 
and  duty  to  the  islands,  and  promptly 
undertook  to  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
people  the  open  Bible,  the  groundwork 


and  foundation  of  truth  and  greatness. 
The  evangelical  forces  going  there  to 
operate  wisely  conferred  and  divided 
the  field  to  economize  time,  effort,  and 
funds,  and  to  prevent  overworking 
some  sections  and  neglecting  others. 
This  division  of  the  field  resulted 
in  the  Congregational  Church  becom- 
ing responsible  for  the  evangelization 
of  Mindanao,  the  other  evangelical 
churches  assuming  the  task  in  the 
northern  islands.  While  greatly  inter- 
ested in  the  work  of  the  Kingdom  there, 
we  are  especially  interested  in  Minda- 
nao, our  own  charge  by  agreement. 

Mindanao  is  the  great  island  in  the 
south.  It  has  a coast  line  of  1,500 
miles,  and  with  the  small  islands  im- 
mediately south  comprises  about  one- 
third  the  entire  land  area  of  the  archi- 
pelago, or  about  35,000  square  miles. 
This  land  is  richest  in  valuable  timber 
and  for  agricultural  purposes  of  all  the 
islands,  and  is  bound  in  the  future  to 
be  the  home  of  great  enterprises  and 
centers  of  civilization.  With  rare  ex- 
ceptions the  thermometer  stands  be- 
tween 75  and  95  the  year  round,  though 


ONE  OF  THE  MUNICIPAL  BUILDINGS,  MINDANAO 

It  contains  the  offices  of  the  Governor,  the  Treasurer,  and  the  Presidente.  In  the  rear 

is  the  post  office 


A GROUP  OF  MANSACAS  FROM  CROWHURST  PLANTATION 


the  heat  is  oppressive  because  of  the 
great  humidity.  The  rainfall  is  abun- 
dant, averaging  about  70  inches  per 
annum. 

The  people  of  our  field,  however, 
interest  us  much  more  than  soil, 
climate,  rainfall,  etc.  They  may  be 
divided  into  three  great  divisions, 
namely.  Civilized  Filipinos,  Moro  Mo- 
hammedans, and  Pagans.  The  civilized 
Filipinos  occupy  the  northern  and 
northeastern  shores  from  Dapitan  on 
the  north  to  Mati  on  the  east,  and 
number  probably  over  100,000  souls. 
They  have  established  themselves  on 
Mindanao,  but  are  people  from  the 
northern  islands,  such  as  Leyte,  Bohol, 
Cebu,  and  Negros.  As  a rule  they  are 
not  found  far  from  the  shore,  say  from 
five  to  ten  miles.  They  present  a great, 
ready  harvest  field,  tired  of  the  shams 
and  forms  of  Romanism,  waiting  for 
the  Congregational  Church  of  America 
to  send  pastors  and  teachers  of  the 
Word  of  Life. 

The  great  Moro  field  embodies  the 
Cotobato  and  Llanao  districts  and  the 
Zamboanga  peninsula,  with  the  adja- 
cent small  islands  southward,  namely, 
Basilian  and  the  Sulu  Archipelago.  It 
is  doubtless  the  largest  and  hardest 


field  in  the  islands.  The  population 
runs  to  between  300,000  and  400,000. 
The  Moro  is  the  known  fighter.  His 
hand  is  against  every  man.  He  re- 
spects only  the  arm  of  Mohammed  and 
the  arm  of  force. 

Next  to  the  absolute  pagan  he  stands 
in  need  of  the  gospel.  There  is  no 
hope  for  him  except  through  the  cross 
— a change  from  carnal  to  spiritual; 
through  that  change  the  Moro  would 
doubtless  be  one  of  the  greatest  fac- 
tors for  good  in  the  islands.  The  peo- 
ple who  can  fight  well  can  love  much, 
both  their  neighbors  and  their  Master. 
Cowards  are  of  little  use  in  temporal 
or  spiritual  affairs.  This  great  field  of 
Mohammedan  Moros  has  waited  in  mute 
silence  for  the  Congregational  Church 
of  America  to  give  it  the  “Bread  of 
Life,”  yet  fifteen  years  have  swept  by 
and  not  a single  school,  dispensary, 
chapel,  or  worker  has  been  placed 
among  them  by  the  Congregational 
Church. 

The  great  pagan  field  is  in  the  Davao 
district.  It  is  composed  of  the  shores 
of  the  Gulf  of  Davao  and  the  interior 
east,  north,  and  west  of  that  gulf.  It 
is  the  home  of  the  following  wild 
tribes:  Atas  Bagobo,  Bilan  Bukiduon, 


Calagan,  Calaman,  Mandayan,  Manobo, 
Mansaca,  Samal,  and  Lagacolo.  Be- 
sides these  tribes  living  in  the  district 
of  Davao  there  is  another  wild  tribe, 
the  Subano,  whose  home  is  on  the  Zam- 
boanga peninsula,  which  is  said  to  be 
about  10,000  strong. 

Some  of  the  tribes  mentioned  are 
again  divided,  but  this  is  a working 
classification.  All  these  tribes  are 
purely  pagan,  many  of  them  head 
hunters,  slaveholders,  human  sacrific- 
ers,  and  some  said  to  be  semi-cannibals. 
The  total  number  of  these  tribes  put 
together  probably  reaches  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  200,000.  Among  them  our 
church  has  established  a small  mission, 
but  it  is  not  reaching  yet  one  per  cent 
of  the  people.  The  small  mission  has 
done  and  is  doing  a good  and  important 
work,  but  aside  from  this  little  mission 
to  the  pagans  our  church  has  failed 
utterly  in  doing  its  part  of  the  work 
in  the  Philippines. 

Fifteen  years  ago  there  was,  by 
mutual  agreement  of  the  evangelical 
forces  operating  in  the  islands,  com- 
mitted to  our  care  the  largest,  hardest, 
truest,  and  best  mission  field  in  the 
archipelago.  Today  that  field  is  the 
most  grossly  neglected  of  all.  Should 


the  Stars  and  Stripes  soon  be  removed 
and  American  protection  withdrawn 
from  the  islands,  the  saddest  bit  of 
history  connected  with  our  flag  and 
missions  in  the  islands  would  be  the 
neglected  field  of  the  American  Board. 
Of  the  thousands  of  civilized  Filipinos 
intrusted  to  you,  next  to  nothing  has 
been  done;  for  the  400,000  Moham- 
medan Moros  absolutely  nothing  done, 
and  less  than  one  per  cent  of  the  pos- 
sible 200,000  pagans  even  seen. 

Tn  spite  of  all  our  wonderful  ma- 
chinery, our  records  and  history  in 
other  parts  of  the  world,  we  cannot  but 
be  ashamed  of  the  neglect  of  our  own. 
A half  a million  Mohammedan  and 
pagan  people  under  our  own  flag,  put 
directly  under  the  care  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  of  America,  have 
never  heard  a Christian  prayer,  seen 
a Christian  church  or  a Christian 
missionary. 

Enough  of  the  past.  But  what  of 
the  future?  We  trust  this  year  of  1914 
will  see  our  church  come  forward  to 
the  call  of  duty  and  come  into  its  own, 
and  no  Moro,  Filipino,  or  pagan  wait 
in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death, 
worshiping  idols,  birds,  noises,  or  un- 
known gods  under  our  starry  flag. 

Boston,  191Jf.  Charles  T.  Sibley. 


CARABAOS  AND 
The  familiar  beasts  of 
elephants,  yet 


THEIR  BAGOBO  DRIVERS 

burden  in  the  Philippines:  almost  as  big  as 

as  docile  as  cows 


THE  MISSION  SITUATION  it  is  TODAY 


THE  HOSPITAL  AT  DAVAO 


But  some  one  will  ask:  What  is  the 
actual  situation  today?  What  has 
been  accomplished  in  the  twelve  years 
since  the  American  Board’s  Mission 
to  the  Philippines  was  begun?  How 
much  of  an  impression  has  been  made? 
What  is  there  to  show  for  the  outlay? 

There  is  a station  established  at 
Davao,  where  the  present  missionaries 
reside,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Robert  F.  Black, 
who  founded  the  mission  in  1902,  and 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  T.  Sibley,  who 
joined  them  in  1908;  there  also  is 
Miss  Mary  R.  Mathewson,  serving  as 
foreign  nurse  in  the  hospital  and 
really  directing  it  during  Dr.  Sibley’s 
absence  on  furlough  the  past  year. 

A church  of  104  members;  a mis- 
sion hospital  caring  for  some  700  in- 
patients and  whose  five  dispensaries 
treated  13,000  cases  last  year;  a kin- 
dergarten ; six  schools  with  239  pupils 
— these  are  the  bare  facts  and  figures 
on  the  institutional  side.  A good  deal 
needs  to  be  read  into  them  before  their 
significance  is  appreciated.  For  ex- 
ample, among  the  hospital  patients 
were  sixty  leper  suspects  gathered  at 


Davao,  who  were  found  to  be  suffer- 
ing really  from  malignant  tropical 
ulcers.  They  were  nearly  all  from  wild 
tribes  and  were  cared  for  in  a separate 
location;  six  were  in  so  frightful  con- 
dition as  to  be  beyond  help,  the  others 
were  all  sent  home  cured. 

The  hospital  building  is  small;  its 
structure  is  crude ; it  was  quickly  built 
of  unseasoned  wood  and  is  fit  only  for 
temporary  use;  a fine  modern  building 
is  already  planned  in  its  place.  But  in 
this  small  building  what  miracles  of 
healing  have  been  wrought;  what  re- 
lief and  comfort  and  new  hope  have 
been  dispensed ! And  here  the  word  of 
the  gospel  has  been  distributed  in  Eng- 
lish, Spanish,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Visa- 
yan,  and  Tagalog,  to  patients  of  all 
these  nationalities,  besides  great  num- 
bers of  the  semi-savage  and  really 
wild  tribes. 

Of  the  schools,  also,  two  have  been 
established  among  the  wild  Bagobo 
people;  another  is  among  the  Man- 
dayans,  mostly  Mohammedans,  in  a 
village  near  the  Davao  gulf.  In  all, 
five  private  schools  have  been  main- 


tained  among  the  wild  tribes  in  places 
where  the  government  could  not  place 
them.  In  this  way  entrance  has  been 
effected  into  the  interior  parts  of  the 
island  and  acquaintance  made  and 
confidence  won  with  several  of  its  sus- 
picious and  warring  peoples. 

The  church,  though  small  and  simple 
in  construction,  is  yet  one  of  the  finest 
Protestant  churches  in  all  the  islands 
— the  mother  church  of  Congregation- 
alism in  the  Philippines,  in  a field 
which  no  other  religious  worker  than 
Jesuit  priest  or  Mohammedan  pundit 
has  ever  touched.  A native  evangelist 
and  his  wife  are  laboring  here  with 
beautiful  devotion;  and  they  are  win- 
ning results,  both  from  their  words 
and  their  example.  Already  the  work 
in  Davao  has  outgrown  its  quarters. 
A fine  new  mission  site  has  been  se- 
cured on  the  hill  100  feet  above  the  hot 
and  swampy  town.  One  residence  has 
been  completed,  where  the  Blacks  arc 
now  living;  “where  peace  and  quiet 
reign;  where  the  wild  deer  come  up 
and  challenge  us  less  than  100  yards 
away  at  night ; where  the  wild  hog  and 
jungle  fowl  creep  up  and  investigate; 
where  our  boy  has  room  to  romp  and 
yell;  where  the  horses  and  chickens 
find  sweet  and  abundant  pasture; 
where — best  of  all — the  people  of  the 
town  like  to  come  for  a bit  of  fresh- 


ness and  a broad  view.”  A second 
residence  is  soon  to  be  begun  for  the 
Sibleys,  and  the  hospital  also  will  be 
moved  to  this  healthful  location.  The 
new  site  will  also  provide  room  later 
on  for  a school  for  the  wild  tribes. 
The  present  hospital  building  may  be 
used  as  a town  dispensary. 

So  far  the  American  Board  mission 
is  chiefly  an  institution  of  Davao  and 
vicinity;  the  great  bulk  of  Mindanao 
is  still  untouched.  Yet  not  altogether 
so.  As  has  been  indicated,  tours  of 
investigation  and  approach  have  been 
made  into  the  interior  at  various 
points,  and  through  schools  some  last- 
ing contacts  have  been  established. 
Particular  attention  has  been  given  to 
the  northern  end  of  the  island,  where 
by  the  cordial  cooperation  of  the  Pres- 
byterian mission  on  the  neighboring 
island  of  Cebu,  and  through  the  labors 
of  one  of  its  evangelists,  a very  strik- 
ing and  successful  work  has  been  be- 
gun ; several  hundred  have  been  bap- 
tized and  organized  into  churches  and 
Sunday  schools.  The  Board  still  hopes 
to  occupy  this  northern  country,  with 
stations  at  the  important  centers  of 
Surigao  and  Cagayan.  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
Frank  C.  Laubach  have  been  appointed 
as  new  missionaries  for  this  purpose; 
they  plan  to  leave  at  once  for  their 
field.  w.  E.  s. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  DAVAO 


